Custom firmware for R7800 to extend its functionality

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Zeljko1234
Zeljko1234's picture
I definitely understand you
I definitely understand you and recently I've suggested thanks button on another forum. It's simple gesture for developers to continue their work. Some forums are deleting simple "thank you" posts and even punishing people who are making them.
 
I think that you can count all those downloads as satisfied users of your build otherwise, they will complain. People rather like to complain than giving gratitude.
 

Just continue great work ;)

 

gianni_1963
gianni_1963's picture
Dear Voxel,

Dear Voxel,

first of all I want to thanks you for your effort to improuve the performance of this fantastic router.

I'm Gianni from Italy (so please apologize me for my bad english) since december owner of this router. Before bought it I read many forum were people wasn't happy about firmware and GUI, but I'm not a power user so I thought that for my need it could be enough.

Now after twomonth I fully understand what they meaning, every time to enter and check the log or device attached I spend time and not allways it showed
me the right situation, I try to use the donwloader manager (both USB or E-Sata) but it not responding and the download remain int the window for week (with trasmission the same BT file was downloaded in half hour), so I decided to move to custom firmware and your seems to be the more supported.

I read (more or less) all the page of this thread so I suppose this is the good one for me, it has Trasmission (that I know well) and it's based on the official firmware, so I suppose has the shedule for the on-off of WiFi (this is another features must to have) and the reserve of IP address (my wife has many printers so I need to use allways the same IP). Could you please confirm me It has this features ? Have you test also if the E-Sata port works well (I changed from USB because the WiFi was instable with the drive attached) ?

Last question, the other package are usefull or I can install just the firmware (reset before and after to install your firmware) ? Do you need to know the hardware version for the compatibility or all are the same ?

Many thanks in advance

Gianni

gianni_1963
gianni_1963's picture
...obviusly the E-Sata was

...obviusly the E-Sata was supported by external power.

I forgot a question: do the WiFi button (On-Off) working as well ?

Voxel
Voxel's picture
Dear Gianni,

Dear Gianni,

 

This firmware supports the schedule (Wi-Fi Off/On) - I have to use it, because my wife wants to sleep in "W-Fi free" environment ;-) You know, these woman...

Also, I use an IP reservation: my mini-server is connected to this router, but I have to use port forwarding to concrete IP of my server. Plus reservation of IP to access my laptop by RDP.

e-SATA: it works, fast. But I do not use it anymore. I had two times problems with e-SATA when my previous routers R7500 were bricked (not recoverable) and I had to replace them (guarantee). IMO these routers have some hardware problems with e-SATA. So I avoid use of e-SATA disks. 

 

I did not quite understand your last question. You can use this firmware w/o installation of any additional packages, w/o Entware and/or Debian.

Voxel.
 

Voxel
Voxel's picture
New version of my custom

New version of my custom firmware build: 1.0.2.23SF.

What’s important in this release: mainly improvement of OpenVPN speed. I remind that I added OpenVPN v. 2.4.0 into my previous build 1.0.2.22SF, but now:

(1) It is possible from WebGUI to choose settings for pure OpenVPN v. 2.4.x clients, i.e. not compatible with v. 2.3.x clients. Users who still have 2.3.x clients should use compatible settings (as before, no changes here).
(2) 2.4.x mode uses AES-128-GCM instead of AES-128-CBC what leads to increase in speed and security.
(3) 2.4.x mode uses LZ4 compression algorithm, which is in general more fast and provides more high level of compression than LZO used in 2.3.x mode (improvements in speed).
(4) To provide more optimal use of LZ4 compression, I added external liblz4 library v. 1.7.5 for use instead of LZ4 compatible codes in OpenVPN 2.4.0 sources. According to info from LZ4 developers, starting from v. 1.7.3 they significantly increased its speed especially for ARMv6 and ARMv7 CPU, from their log:

 

Improved: Small decompression speed boost
Improved: Small compression ratio and speed improvement on small files
Improved: Significant speed boost on ARMv6 and ARMv7

So it is is strongly recommended to use 2.4.x mode if all of your clients are 2.4.x version. You should get increase in speed (theoretically ;-)).

Changes (vs 1.0.2.22SF):
1. WebGUI is changed to allow selection of OpenVPN 2.4.x clients.
2. WebGUI is changed to allow deselection of “Respond to Ping on Internet Port” after enabling OpenVPN server (WAN settings, thanks to infobits).
3. External liblz4 v. 1.7.5 package is added (used in OpenVPN for LZ4 compression).
4. libusb package is upgraded 1.0.20->1.0.21.
5. libusb-compat package is upgraded 0.1.4->0.1.5.
6. zlib package is upgraded 1.2.9->1.2.11 (several fixes and improvement).
7. dnscrypt-proxy package is upgraded 1.7.0->1.9.4
8. dnscrypt-resolvers.csv is updated.
9. bridge-utils package is upgraded 1.5->1.6.
10. mtd-utils package is upgraded 1.5.0->1.5.2
11. Latest QoS Optimization DB is included into firmware.
12. Host tools: three components are upgraded to most recent versions (gmp, gperf and pkg-config).

The link is:

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/tyj61i5uc610w/voxel-firmware

No reset is needed to upgrade from my previous versions.

(Thanks to vladlenas for additional testing).

Voxel. 

 

 

tecnocrata
tecnocrata's picture
Hello Voxel,
Hello Voxel,
 
First of all congratulate you for the excellent work, it is amazing!
I have some questions related to your firmware, I know that many of them may seem too obvious for someone skilled as those who are in the forum, but for someone new like me has not yet clear the answers:
 
  1. I understand that if I install your firmware, I can use entware-ng to install packages using opkg, I found this list of packages: http://pkg.entware.net/binaries/armv7/Packages.htm Can all they be installed on R7800 router?
  2. In the list I see that it seems that these packages are compatible only with ARMv7 processors.... which packages are compatible with the processor of the R7800?
  3. I know that the non-volatile memory of the R7800 is 128 MB (not much), it is possible to install the packages on an USB drive, which package do I need to install first in order to enable this feature?
  4. I am interested in installing a squid package on the R7800, it is possible to do it, do you have any suggestions?

 

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

Enrique

Zeljko1234
Zeljko1234's picture
Thx for a new build :)

Thx for a new build :)

Voxel
Voxel's picture
You are welcome ;-) Voxel.

You are welcome ;-)

Voxel.

Voxel
Voxel's picture
Hello Enrique,

Hello Enrique,

You can install and use official version of Entware-ng. But I strongly recommend to install and use my precompiled version of Entware-3x (i.e. for devices with version of kernel >= 3.x). It is compiled with optimal options for IPQ806x CPU and its FPU (official Entware uses generig “softfp” version).

 

Both: official and my version are compatible with R7800. And they should be installed on external USB drive, not to non-volatile memory of the R7800.

 

Squid is included into my version of Entware-3x too.

 

How to install: see my readme.docx

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/tyj61i5uc610w/voxel-firmware

 

Voxel.

Roobaj
Roobaj's picture
My friend with a 7800 will be

My friend with a 7800 will be happy about that QOS integrated since he too is also suffering from Nat Type issues on Xbox One.

 

:)

gianni_1963
gianni_1963's picture
Dear Voxel,

Dear Voxel,

thanks a lot for your answer and advice, as I said I've some issue to use the USB port (WiFi drop frequently) that's way I bought a E-Sata box and pwered it.

But after a couple a day to use it I've some issue aslo with this port, so after your advise I definetly disconnet it.

Do you suggest to use a USB drive and powered it by the other port USB present in the router (I used a 2.5" hard disk) ? Is the power out of the router enough to supply the HDD ?

Thanks  again in advance

Gianni

 

Voxel
Voxel's picture
Dear Gianni,

Dear Gianni,

Everybody decides himself, in general Netgear declares that eSATA should be OK for this device. But I had two cases using eSATA disks (R7500v1) and I do not want to risk anymore. Two different eSATA boxes, 3.5" and 2.5".

Currently I use 2.5" HDD: firs is connected with no any external power supply, second is connected to my second R7800 using USB hub with external power (it drives also WebCam and USB thermometer). Power of router is enough to drive 2.5'' HDD w/o any additional power.

Voxel.

akku
akku's picture
Dear Voxel, thank you for

Dear Voxel, thank you for wonder build, optimization and entware. I have been using your last few builds and they work awesome. I followed your readme and installed privoxy. Ran into an issue that privoxy works gr8 with http, but https ads are not blocked. with lot of ads now being served over https, i am now using DNSMASQ to block ads. followed the instructions on dd-wrt ad block site to setup script. could you help me with 

1. For some reason crontab job i added to update the hosts does not seem to work. my script work fine if i run at command prompt and i do not get anymore ads on my network.

2. when i check the time on the router using date command, it shows me GMT. i did update the time zone using GUI to my location.

here are the steps i took

1. turn on telnet using 192.168.1.1/debug.htm

2. log into router using telnet and create a script; copy from dd-wrt site; i am not inventor of this :)

#!/bin/sh

logger WAN up script executing

if test -s /tmp/hosts0

then

        rm /tmp/hosts0

fi

 

logger Downloading http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt

wget -O - http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt | grep 0.0.0.0 |

sed 's/[[:space:]]*#.*$//g;' |

grep -v localhost | tr ' ' '\t' |

tr -s '\t' | tr -d '\015' | sort -u >/tmp/hosts0

grep addn-hosts /tmp/dnsmasq.conf ||

echo "addn-hosts=/tmp/hosts0" >>/tmp/dnsmasq.conf

logger Restarting dnsmasq

killall dnsmasq

dnsmasq --conf-file=/tmp/dnsmasq.conf

 

3. add a crontab entry using crontab -e to run this script on a regular basis; say daily

 

 

Thanks

 

 

Voxel
Voxel's picture
Dear akku,
Dear akku,
 
1. cron. I am not sure, maybe you did not install cron from Entware, but you’re using cron from firmware. I use cron installed from Entware and it works. I use temperature monitoring scripts which hourly puts current temperature in my room(s) to my site. So try to install cron from Entware, not from firmware.
 
2. Localtime. After you install Entware you automatically use busybox from Entware instead of busybox from firmware. Try for example to run /bin/date from console: you will see that your local time is correct.
 
You have to correct the settings of your timezone for Entware creating proper /opt/localtime symlink, e.g. to set Berlin time:
 
cd /opt/etc
ln -sf /opt/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin localtime
 
Script is interesting, but I use privoxy with ad-block in my Intel microserver (with automatic update of configs). You can try just to use dnscrypt-proxy from firmware and to use Adguard DNS (see /usr/share/dnscrypt-proxy/dnscrypt-resolvers.csv ). Maybe it is enough for your needs.
 
Voxel.
 
Voxel
Voxel's picture
You can try just to use

You can try just to use dnscrypt-proxy from firmware and to use Adguard DNS (see /usr/share/dnscrypt-proxy/dnscrypt-resolvers.csv ). Maybe it is enough for your needs.
 

I mean just to create the file /etc/dnscrypt.conf with two lines:
 


adguard-dns-ns1

adguard-dns-ns2


and reboot router after this.

Voxel.

gianni_1963
gianni_1963's picture
Voxel,

Voxel,

for sure I'll decide which is the best :) !!!!

Anyway your support and advice are precious!!!!

Regards

Gianni

akku
akku's picture
Thank you. Will try today and

Thank you. Will try today and update. I did try the privoxy with adblock. Issue i ran into was with my ipad. On comp i was able to set http and https proxy with 8118 port and it worked.

is there any downside of using dns block vs privoxy?

thanks

Voxel
Voxel's picture
No, no any problems in using

No, no any problems in using privoxy. I use it myself when I need regular browsing.

Just dnscrypt-proxy with AdGuard DNS is simplest way. No needs in any additional packages installation. AFAIK all these DB of sites to block are using AdGuard DB.

Plus of provoxy is that it easely could be switched off in proxy settings ;-)

 

Voxel.

akku
akku's picture
it worked with entware cron.

it worked with entware cron. thank you.

even_miles
even_miles's picture
Hi. I've been testing Voxel

Hi. I've been testing Voxel firmware, but I wanted to test dd-wrt too.

The problem is when I turned back to stock firmware, wifi has stop working. I'd tried Voxel firmware, but no luck. In addition, with Voxel firm, rootfs are in read only mode and it's impossible execute setssh procedure, because it's not possible to create .ssh folder in root home.

If I reinstall dd-wrt, wifi functions properly so I think that it's a software problem or a corrupt nvram var.

Is there any procedure that allows the nvram to be completely reset?

Thanks!!!!!

 

even_miles
even_miles's picture
Oh my god!!! That's the trick

Oh my god!!! That's the trick:

After returning from DD-WRT to stock firmware:

1) enable telnet: http://191.168.1.1/debug.htm

2) format overlay partition: mtd erase overlay_volume

3) hard reset

Seen in https://www.myopenrouter.com/comment/39648#comment-39648.

Thanks lobyte!!!

 

Voxel
Voxel's picture
New bug fixing version 1.0.2
New bug fixing version 1.0.2.24SF.
 
 Changes (vs 1.0.2.23SF):
 1. OpenVPN init script is updated (fixing bug reported by staticfree).
 2. e2fsprogs package is upgraded 1.43.3->1.43.4.
 3. e2fsprogs host tool is upgraded 1.43.3->1.43.4.
 4. alsa-libs package is upgraded 1.1.0->1.1.3.
 5. xz host tool is upgraded 5.2.2->5.2.3.
 
 
The link is:
 
 
No reset is needed to upgrade from my previous versions.
 
Voxel.
gianni_1963
gianni_1963's picture
Voxel, just a curiosity, why

Voxel, just a curiosity, why do you use a web cam instead to use an IP cam ?

Voxel
Voxel's picture
Webcam: you know, sometimes I

Webcam: you know, sometimes I do not reasonable purchase of hardware gadgets. One of such purchase was two my webcams. So: either I have to shelve them and admit that I was so stupid or to force them work such manner what is really useful for me ;-) I have to monitor my country house during my absence and I can use these webcams watching what is going there. Inside and outside. My WebCams provide very good quality of monitoring. I used this scheme long time ago, with my ASUS routers. Now they work with R7800. That’s all.

BTW, I was so stupid to buy my first two  R7500v1 :-). And after some time I recognized that I have to start my custom builds or shelve them admiting that I was an idiot... I continued these builds with R7800.

 

Voxel.

Zeljko1234
Zeljko1234's picture
I'm glad that you, according

I'm glad that you, according yourself, was stupid :D :D :D Becasue of that, we have custom rom :)

gianni_1963
gianni_1963's picture
Voxel,

Voxel,

you are not stupid, but as me sometime we like to buy IT products without a precise reason !!!!

I've too a webcam not used, i try to use it as you.

I've another question for you and all the other expert in network; I checked regolary the log and there is a MAC address that try every day to hack my WiFi; I blocked this MAC address but i would like to know if I can discovered who is (the only thing I discovered is this a Samsung device) and if there are a system to send a clear message to him/she to not continue to try.

Any suggestion ?

 

Voxel
Voxel's picture
gianni_1963:

gianni_1963:

 

IMO it just has no sense. Too much efforts to catch schoolboy’s age “cool hacker”. There are special programs and equipment to locate Wi-Fi client, e.g.

http://securitystartshere.org/page-training-oswa-assistant.htm#moocherhunter

but IMO has no sense. Many people do not set up their routers after purchase, leaving default ISP password, and someone after successful connection to such router of his neighbors can imagine that he can do everything. Just set up your Wi-Fi protected, leave his MAC address blocked and ignore him. It is IMO.

Voxel.

Voxel
Voxel's picture
For those who use Entware:
For those who use Entware:
 
New version of Entware-3x (my build optimized for IPQ806x) is available to download:
 
 
Build 170221.
 
What’s new:
1. Synchronized with LEDE and OpenWRT.
2. New toolchain is used with GCC 6.3.0 and glibc 2.25.
 
In my build:
1. Optimized for IPQ806x (compiler options).
2. Kernel 3.4.103 is used in compilation.
3. Few packages are upgraded to more recent versions.
4. OpenSSL asm acceleration is used.
5. OpenVPN is compiled with use of external LZ4 library v.1.7.5 (the last is added to packages)
 
Voxel.
 
Voxel
Voxel's picture
New version of my custom

New version of my custom firmware build: 1.0.2.25SF.

Changes (vs 1.0.2.24SF):
1. sqlite3 package is upgraded 3130000->3160000.
2. libgcrypt package is upgraded 1.5.0->1.6.6.
3. libgpg-error package is upgraded 1.9->1.25.
4. sysstat package is upgraded 10.1.7->11.0.4.
5. lzo package is upgraded 2.09->2.10.
6. dbus package is upgraded 1.4.14->1.10.4.
7. libubox package is upgraded 2013-07-04->2016-02-26.
8. ubus package is upgraded 2013-01-13->2016-01-26.
9. libjson package is upgraded to libjson-c 0.9->0.12.1.
10. uci package is upgraded 2013-01-04->2016-02-02.
11. usbmode package moved to build tree.
12. dnscrypt-resolvers.csv is updated.
13. Host tools: four components are upgraded to most recent versions.
14. Toolchain: binutils is upgraded to version 2.28.

The link is:

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/tyj61i5uc610w/voxel-firmware

No reset is needed to upgrade from my previous versions.

(Thanks to vladlenas for additional testing).


Entware-3x:

vladlenas (again, thanks to him) kindly has provided the space on his own site for Entware users and script for installation of Entware-3x, optimized for IPQ8060x CPU. The link is:

http://ownweb.eu/Downloads/Entware/

The name of script for Entware-3x installation is “entware-setup.sh”.

Voxel.

Voxel
Voxel's picture
Updated: new version 1.0.2
Updated: new version 1.0.2.29SF.
 
Changes (vs 1.0.2.25SF):
1. Integration of changes with stock v. 1.0.2.28:
 
 
Voxel.

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